Feds pick Virginia, three more states for offshore wind energy

Obama administration officials also announce $50.5 million in research and development funds

February 07, 2011|By Cory Nealon, cnealon@dailypress.com | 247-4760

NORFOLK — — Energy companies could be allowed to install wind turbines off the coasts of Virginia and three other states within three years, according to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Salazar appeared Monday with Energy Secretary Steven Chu at the Half Moon Cruise and Celebration Center to announce a quicker permitting process and the availability of $50.5 million in grants for research and development of the renewable energy source.

"The wind potential of the Atlantic Coast is staggering," said Salazar, who noted the nation's only approved offshore wind farm, off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass., took 10 years to permit — a time frame he deemed "much too long."

Under guidelines announced Monday, the Interior Department will issue leases by the end of the year or early 2012 provided no significant conflicts are found in four zones off the coasts of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey.

More detailed reviews from the Defense Department, environmental activists, and other stakeholders will follow, a process Salazar said could take two to three years. From there, companies could place turbines in the water, though industry leaders say it could take a few more years because the infrastructure isn't in place.

The zone under consideration in Virginia is roughly 12 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach.

It's part of an area the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium said could include 25 lease blocks and provide 3,200 megawatts of electricity, or roughly 10 percent of the state's power consumption.

The turbines would not be visible from shore, and the area is outside of NASA Wallops' rocket-launching range and Navy live-ordnance ranges, a consortium report from April states.

The Defense Department, which is under orders to increase alternative energy use, gave preliminary approval to 18 of the lease blocks.

Building offshore wind farms is more expensive than building coal-fired or natural gas power plants, the report states, but the difference could be cut in half if the parts are manufactured in Virginia.

Spanish-firm Gamesa and Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Newport News shipyard announced last week they would design a prototype offshore wind turbine in Chesapeake. Neither company has said where it will be manufactured or tested.

The $50.5 million will be awarded over the next five years to companies who will design turbines, and conduct environmental and economic research, Chu said.

Internet giant Google last year announced it formed a partnership to build a $5 billion underwater transmission line from New Jersey to Virginia. The line would reach Virginia by 2020.

State Secretary of Natural Resources Douglas Domenech, who attended a closed door meeting with Salazar and Chu after the announcement, said the Google line isn't necessary to generate electricity off the coast.

A transmission line could run from the turbines underwater to a Dominion Virginia Power substation in Virginia Beach, Domenech said. Dominion spokesman Jim Norvelle said the company will bid for the lease area.